====== Argentavis No. 1 ====== ===== Overview ===== The **Argentavis No. 1**, usually shortened to **Argentavis** or **Argie**, is a Royal Emberstone Air Force twin-engine, twin-boom biplane developed before the Industrial War and used throughout the conflict. The Argentavis serves as the heavier companion to the **Hawk No. 1**. It combines several roles in one aircraft: * light bomber * heavy fighter * reconnaissance platform * long-range radio relay * circus command aircraft It is not intended to fight alone like a single-seat fighter. The Argentavis works as the center of a small RAFE fighting group, using its radios, crew, guns, bombs, and cameras while its attached Hawks protect it and fight around it. ===== Development ===== The Argentavis is a direct RAFE development. It belongs to the same early aircraft generation as the Hawk No. 1 and Kite. RAFE develops the aircraft as a practical answer to the limits of single-seat fighters. A Hawk can fight, scout, and return reports, but it cannot carry a proper long-range radio, a second crewman, a useful bomb load, and heavier forward guns without losing the qualities that make it a good fighter. The Argentavis fills that gap. Nightwing Armory and RRCC assist where their expertise is useful: * **RRCC** supports engine development, components, machining, and production methods * **Nightwing Armory** assists with weapons integration, mounts, protection, radios, and specialist fabrication * **RAFE** retains control of requirements, testing, field development, and doctrine The aircraft remains a RAFE machine rather than the product of a separate aviation company. ===== Airframe ===== The Argentavis is an aluminum-skinned, light-frame biplane with a central crew nacelle and two outboard engine nacelles extending into twin booms. The crew, guns, radio equipment, reconnaissance equipment, and main bomb position are carried in the central nacelle. The engines and propellers sit outboard, leaving a clear central firing corridor between the propeller discs. The tailplane spans between the rear portions of the twin booms. This arrangement gives the aircraft a strong rear structure while keeping the main crew and weapons concentrated in the center. The aluminum skin gives the Argentavis better durability, weather resistance, and service life than older cloth-covered aircraft. It is not armor. Rifle, machine-gun, or heavy-gun fire can still damage the engines, controls, crew, fuel tanks, tail, or other vital structure. ===== Engines & Propellers ===== The Argentavis No. 1 is powered by two **Hydra X12** aircraft engines, one mounted in each outboard engine nacelle. The X12s give the aircraft enough power to carry its two-person crew, greenhouse cockpit, radios, cameras, guns, bombs, fixed landing gear, and reinforced fighting station without becoming a slow flying brick. Unlike the Hawk, the Argentavis does not require coaxial contra-rotating propellers. Its forward guns fire through the clear central space between the engine nacelles, so there is no need to complicate the propeller system to create firing lanes. The Argentavis uses ordinary tractor propellers, with matched left and right engine installations arranged to reduce handling problems from engine torque. ===== Landing Gear ===== The Argentavis No. 1 uses fixed landing gear. The main gear is mounted wide, under or near the engine nacelles, giving the aircraft a stable stance on rough RAFE fields. A rear tailwheel or skid supports the aft end of the aircraft. The fixed gear is simple, strong, and field-repairable. Later aircraft generations may adopt retractable landing gear, but the No. 1 prioritizes reliability and rugged wartime operation. ===== Crew ===== Each Argentavis carries two crew: * a **Sergeant** or **Corporal** serving as circus commander * that commander’s **Striker**, serving aboard the aircraft as Flight Second A **Striker** is a hand-chosen aide, bodyguard, protector, and close combat partner. Strikers handle practical field support and act as the commander’s immediate striking hand when the commander is occupied with command duties. In RAFE service, the Striker becomes a formal aircrew role aboard the Argentavis. The commander and Striker do not have fixed seat assignments by rank. Whichever crewman is the better pilot may fly the aircraft, while the other operates the rear station. The Sergeant or Corporal remains the circus commander regardless of which seat they occupy. ===== Cockpit & Rear Fighting Station ===== The Argentavis has one long enclosed greenhouse cockpit over the central nacelle. The front canopy section slides forward over the pilot’s position. The rear canopy section slides backward over the rear crewman’s station. When closed, the cockpit provides weather protection and a usable enclosed workspace for flying, radio operation, map work, reconnaissance, and command. When the rear canopy section is opened, the rear crewman can stand into the dorsal fighting position and operate the flexible rear gun mount. The rear gun is mounted on a rail-and-roller ring system. When the rear canopy is closed, the gun is brought into a forward stow position and locked by a cam/guide arrangement so it cannot swing freely during turbulence, takeoff, landing, or rough manoeuvres. ==== Rear Crew Restraints ==== The rear crewman’s seat includes two restraint modes. For takeoff, landing, rough weather, and ordinary flight, the rear crewman uses the normal seated harness. When using the dorsal gun, the rear crewman switches to standing fighting tethers. These tethers clip into the crewman’s harness and allow them to stand, turn, lean, and work the gun while remaining attached to the aircraft. Low-tension take-up spools keep the tethers from hanging slack or tangling in the cockpit. The spools do not carry the real safety load. Each tether has a fixed maximum length and heavy load-bearing hardware, so if the aircraft rolls, inverts, or is violently upset, the rear crewman may be thrown around but should not be ejected through the open fighting position. ===== Armament ===== The Argentavis carries both fixed forward guns and a flexible rear gun. Because the engines sit outboard, the forward guns fire through the clear central corridor between the propellers. The aircraft does not require synchronizer gear or propeller deflectors. ==== Forward Guns ==== Early Argentavis aircraft carry: * 1 × fixed centreline **8.2** heavy gun * 2 × fixed forward **6.9** guns Once the **13 mm** aircraft gun enters production early in the war, the Argentavis becomes one of the first RAFE aircraft to mass-adopt it. Upgraded and later-production Argentavis aircraft carry: * 1 × fixed centreline **13 mm** gun * 2 × fixed forward **6.9** guns The 6.9s provide sustained forward fire. The centreline heavy gun provides the aircraft’s main punch against tougher targets, airship gondolas, engines, machinery, and other hardened or important points. The forward guns fire straight ahead, parallel to the aircraft’s centreline. They are not set for convergence. The pilot uses simple etched windscreen reference marks for rough aiming. These marks provide a fixed forward reference for the guns; the pilot still judges range, lead, angle, and timing manually. ==== Rear Gun ==== The rear dorsal mount is modular. For ordinary fighter defence, the rear crewman may mount an air-cooled **6.9** gun. This gives a higher practical rate of fire and more ammunition. For heavier work, the mount may take one of the newer air-cooled **8.2** guns. The 8.2 is heavier, carries less ammunition, and is less convenient for ordinary defence, but it is far more useful against airship gondolas, larger aircraft, machinery, and other tough targets. The rear gun uses belt feed with belt drums rather than the aircraft cassette systems used by some fixed guns. ==== Safe-Arc Fire Interrupter ==== The rear gun mount includes a **safe-arc fire interrupter**. The interrupter disconnects the trigger linkage when the gun is trained into a blocked arc where it could strike the tailplane, booms, nacelle, or other parts of the aircraft. This allows the rear crewman to track targets aggressively without having to manually judge every unsafe angle while under fire. The purpose is simple: the gunner focuses on the Felderians, and the aircraft prevents the gunner from shooting the aircraft. ===== Bomb Load ===== The Argentavis uses a mission-configurable bomb arrangement rather than one fixed bomb load. The central nacelle is normally configured to carry one medium or heavy bomb. Wing racks provide more flexible options, including smaller mortar-sized bombs or mixed loads depending on the mission. Common arrangements include: * one medium or heavy bomb under the central nacelle * two heavier bombs for direct strike work * one central bomb plus multiple smaller bombs on wing racks Exact loads vary by mission, target, range, and field conditions. ===== Fuel System ===== The Argentavis carries its main fuel in the engine nacelles, close to the X12 engines and away from the central crew cabin. The fuel tanks receive the same general type of basic leak-mitigation and self-sealing treatment used on the Hawk. This protection is not proof against serious damage, but it can slow leaks and reduce the chance that a single rifle-calibre hit immediately drains or sprays the tank. The tanks include isolation and shutoff provisions so that damage to one tank or line does not automatically compromise the entire fuel system. ===== Reconnaissance Equipment ===== The Argentavis is fitted for reconnaissance as well as fighting and bombing. The rear station includes map cases, navigation materials, and space for reports and observation notes. The aircraft can also carry Lantern-style colour still cameras mounted in the central nacelle between the pilot and rear crewman. The camera system is aimed through a periscope-style sight, allowing the crew to take useful reconnaissance images without requiring the rear crewman to lean out of the aircraft. This makes the Argentavis valuable after a mission even when it drops no bombs. It can return with maps, photographs, air observations, artillery information, and reports on Felderian movement. ===== Radios & Circus Doctrine ===== Each Argentavis carries a dependable long-range radio set. Hawks carry lighter radio sets. A Hawk can usually reach base directly, but it can reliably reach its assigned Argentavis. The Argentavis therefore serves as the circus’s radio relay, command node, and navigation platform. A standard RAFE section consists of: * 10 Hawks * 2 Argentavis This gives the section 12 aircraft and 14 aircrew. The section may split into two smaller groups called **circuses**. Each circus contains: * 5 Hawks * 1 Argentavis * 7 aircrew The Sergeant or Corporal in the Argentavis commands the circus. The Hawks provide escort, interception, local air superiority, and protection for the heavier aircraft. The Argentavis provides command, radio relay, reconnaissance, heavier guns, and bombing capability. ===== Operational Use ===== The Argentavis is not designed to duel enemy fighters alone. Its proper place is at the center of a circus, where its Hawks can handle the most aggressive manoeuvring while the Argentavis coordinates, observes, strikes, and defends itself. Typical Argentavis duties include: * directing Hawk patrols * relaying radio traffic back to base * photographing enemy positions * attacking trenches, guns, vehicles, and supply points * striking airship gondolas and exposed machinery * carrying heavier forward fire than a Hawk * keeping the circus organized during confusion, weather, and combat Against Felderian rigid airships, RAFE aircraft normally attack the gondola and operational stations rather than wasting effort trying to destroy the entire lifting envelope. The useful targets are crew, controls, communications, navigation, engine equipment, and machinery. The Argentavis is well suited to this work because it can bring 8.2 or 13 mm fire onto specific parts of the airship while its rear gun and escorting Hawks discourage interception. ===== Crew Survival ===== RAFE considers trained aircrew more valuable than recoverable aircraft. Both Argentavis crewmen carry parachutes. In an emergency, crew escape is direct: open the relevant canopy section and jump clear. The aircraft is designed so that the crew are not expected to die with it for the sake of equipment. If the Argentavis can be landed, it should be landed. If it is burning, uncontrollable, or unable to return, the crew are expected to bail out when possible. ===== Legacy ===== The Argentavis No. 1 proves the value of multi-crew RAFE aircraft before larger postwar aircraft become common. Its commander-and-Striker crew model gives RAFE experience with paired aircrew, long-range radio work, aerial command, reconnaissance photography, defensive gunnery, and mixed strike operations. The aircraft is not a technological miracle or a later-generation warplane. It is an Industrial War machine built around Emberstone’s basic military principle: the person operating the weapon is the real asset, and the machine should help bring that person home.